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Anthony Wright's trial date changed

New trial date now set for December

By Sarah Rose

roses@canoncitydailyrecord.com

Posted:
08/06/2014 06:10:23 PM MDT

Anthony Wright

The trial date has been changed for a Cañon City man accused of murdering a Fowler man in 2012.

Anthony S. Wright's trial now is scheduled for Dec. 1-6 and 8-12. It originally was slated for Sept. 22-26 and Sept. 29 through Oct. 3. According to the Otero County District Court, Wright waived his right to a speedy trial Wednesday during a pretrial readiness conference.

A motions hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Oct. 31, and a hearing regarding victims right is slated for 11 a.m. Aug. 26.

Wright, 43, was arrested Aug. 15 in Cañon City on suspicion of first-degree murder, murder in the second degree and conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree.

The arrest is in connection to the Oct. 12, 2012, murder of Byron Griffy, 77, in Fowler. Otero County Sheriff's deputies were called to a home near the intersection of CR 4.5 and U.S. 50, which is about 30 miles east of Pueblo, and discovered Griffy shot. He was pronounced dead on the scene. Griffy was a longtime funeral director in the Arkansas Valley and served on the Fowler School Board for more than 13 years.

In May 2012, Griffy pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust. The victim, a 15-year-old boy, claimed the offenses occurred during a two-year time frame when he worked at the Griffy Funeral Home in Fowler. Griffy was sentenced to four years of probation and 150 hours of community service.

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Wright was a co-owner of three Florence businesses with the late Charles Giebler, 52, a former Florence mayor, who died in January 2013 of cardiomyopathy. The men owned Charles Anthony Funeral Home, Mainstreet Grille and Bakery and Smashing Good Guitars.

Testimony heard in March during a preliminary hearing revealed that Griffy was to "have lunch with his friends, Wright and the late Charles Giebler, also a suspect," for his birthday on the day he was found dead. A press release issued by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation confirms Griffy's birthday as Oct. 13.

The Pueblo Chieftain reported in March that "Mark Morlock, a former agent with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, ... said that during a phone interview with Giebler later that day, Giebler told him he and Wright showed up for the lunch date, but that Griffy never arrived. The two men said they went to his farmhouse but couldn't get to it because of a locked gate."

According to the paper, "the men said they called Griffy twice and left a message both times before heading back to Florence."

The Chieftain also reported about "alleged stolen money, alleged inconsistent statements from suspects, the hiring of a hit man and lack of physical evidence at the crime scene" and that "Investigators said there were no fingerprints nor the weapon used to kill Griffy at the crime scene."

The CBI press release states that "this is a joint investigation by the CBI, Otero County Sheriff's Office and the 16th Judicial District Attorney's Office."

Charges against Wright formally were filed Sept. 18 and include murder 1 after deliberation, a class 1 felony; and conspiracy to commit murder 1, a class 2 felony. Each has two counts of the aggravators violent crime used weapon and violent crime caused death or serious bodily injury.